Crafting Rural Japan: Traditional Potters and Rural Creativity in Regional Revitalization [Hardcover]

This book discusses the place of creative village policy in the revitalisation of rural Japan, highlighting how rural Japan is moving from a state of regional extinction to regional rejuvenation.

Using the case study of Tamba Sasayama in Hyogo Prefecture, where collective initiatives by local government and the role of the local traditional potters are invested in fostering an aura of creativity in the region, the book examines the complex social relations and the intertwining values of different actors to illustrate how a growing outlook on creativity, rurality, and rural creativity requires a renewed perspective on and of rural Japan.

Based on extensive field research, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Japanese studies, rural studies, and anthropology.

Introduction  Part One: Tamba Sasayama  1. From the Great Heisei Amalgamation to the SMzM NMson Campaign  2. From Bean to Pottery  3. The Ambiguity of Rural Creativity  4. Enacting Creativity  Part Two: Tachikui  5. The Taskscape of Tachikui  6. The Secular Side of Craftsmanship  7. Whose Tamba Pottery?  Conclusion: The Rurality of Post-Growth Japan  Epilogue

This book discusses the place of creative village policy in the revitalization of rural Japan, highlighting how rural Japan is moving from a state of regional extinction to regional rejuvenation.

Shilla Lee is a Departmental Lecturer in Japanese Social Anthropology at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies at Oxford.